4/8/09

We knew if we kept this blog going long enough, the world at large would begin to recognize the utter centrality of the Talmud.

Writer Nathan Englander's Talmudic Passover reminiscence in the Times begins in his op-ed, "MY life has turned Talmudic. A friend, aware of my religious upbringing, talked me into doing a new translation of the Haggadah..."

Wow. Englander, who recently was a "proudly and radically secular" Jew, is now claiming to have gone Talmudic. We like how that sounds.

And we like Nathan the writer. He's a lyrical scribe who can evoke strong emotion in a few lines, like these in his op-ed about his childhood seder memories,

And the rituals in our home were many. I remember stealing and hiding the afikoman during the endless Seder meal (a tradition meant to keep youngsters awake). I remember all the preparation that went into that meal, the heavy brass mortar and pestle in a kitchen filled with steam, and the dishes — my great-great grandmother’s china, used two nights a year for 100 and more. The wine was decanted into carafes, the salt served in filigreed silver wells. We were not fancy people, CorningWare white the rest of the year. But these two nights, remembering slavery, were to be celebrated as if we were kings, the poor seated with princes, all meant to recline.